At some point during warmups before No. 1-ranked Texas plays No. 11 Missouri tonight, Longhorns freshman safety Blake Gideon will seek out the coach who’s won a national championship and say: “I hope you’re not nervous.”

Gideon does it every week and it’s a funny line from a guy who has played six games. But Brown and the Longhorns have plenty to worry about if they expect to hold on to their first regular-season No. 1 ranking since 1984 for long.

The Missouri game is just the second game in a brutal stretch for the Longhorns. Including last weekend’s win over then-No. 1 Oklahoma, Texas is in the middle of four straight games against opponents currently No. 11 or higher; Oklahoma State and Texas Tech are the others.

“We do have a difficult schedule but it may be good for this team,” Brown said. “They’re going to have to keep their foot on the pedal.”

A Missouri win would start yet another ripple throughout the polls, in time for the first Bowl Championship Series standings to be released Sunday.

Texas (6-0 overall, 2-0 Big 12) never before has played four ranked opponents in a row. Considering three of them are rivals in the Big 12 South, the Longhorns should be focused as much on chasing the division championship as the national title right now.

“We have the most ridiculous schedule ever,” Texas junior quarterback Colt McCoy said. “We can’t slip up.”

Neither can Missouri (5-1, 1-1) if the Tigers plan to be in the national title hunt. Missouri might have been No. 1 this week if it hadn’t lost at home against No. 8 Oklahoma State last week, when star senior quarterback Chase Daniel threw three interceptions.

“We can’t lose another game,” Missouri wide receiver Jeremy Maclin said.

“We want to flush everything that happened last week and move on,” Daniel said.

Always fiery, Daniel might be chasing something extra in the way of redemption tonight in front of what will probably be a record crowd of 98,000-plus at Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.

Daniel played at powerhouse Southlake Carroll and wanted to be a Longhorn. But Brown planned to sign McCoy and Ryan Perrilloux instead.

Texas didn’t extend a scholarship offer until Perrilloux - who’s now at Jacksonville State - committed to Louisiana State. Daniel stuck with his decision to play at Missouri, a move that Brown says only bolstered his respect for Daniel.

“I think everyone growing up in the state of Texas wants to go to Texas,” Daniel said. “I went my way and they went theirs, and I think it’s worked out great for both of us.”

It certainly has.

Daniel helped fuel Missouri’s rise from Big 12 also-ran to the dominant team in the North. The Tigers made it all the way to No. 1 last season before losing to Oklahoma in the conference title game.

“He’s tough. He’s a winner,” Brown said. “They’ve gone from a good program to a team that’s competing now for championships, and you have to give him most of the credit for that.”

McCoy is 26-6 as a starter and has led nine second-half comeback wins, including last Saturday’s 45-35 victory over rival Oklahoma in Dallas.

Both teams are so loaded with playmakers on offense that winning might depend on the defenses to come up with a big play or series. Texas gave up 35 points last week but held the Sooners to one touchdown in the last 25 minutes.

Senior defensive end Brian Orakpo leads the Longhorns with eight of their 22 sacks and will be trying to get to Daniel.

“We want to get to him,” said Texas senior defensive tackle and Killeen Shoemaker graduate Roy Miller. “It’s a race.”

A good pass rush is critical to protecting an inexperienced Texas secondary that gave up five touchdown passes against Oklahoma.

Gideon might be too young and naive to get nervous about what’s at stake for the Longhorns the next few weeks.

Gideon said he’s been teasing his coaches with the same line about being nervous since high school, when he played for his father at Leander. He even did it to defensive coordinator Will Muschamp the night before Texas played the Sooners.

“I told him I was,” Muschamp said.

With Missouri up next and more tough games to come, every Longhorn likely will be on edge from here on out.